Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.

Reluctant Prophet

Early to wait upon my Lord at White Hall, and with him to the Duke’s chamber. So to my office in Seething Lane. Dined at home, and after dinner to my Lord again, who told me that he is ordered to go suddenly to sea, and did give me some orders to be drawing up against his going. This afternoon I agreed to let my house quite out of my hands to Mr. Dalton (one of the wine sellers to the King, with whom I had drunk inthe old wine cellar two or three times) for 41l. At night made even at Privy Seal for this month against tomorrow to give up possession, but we know not to whom, though we most favour Mr. Bickerstaffe, with whom and Mr. Matthews we drank late after office was done at the Sun, discoursing what to do about it tomorrow against Baron, and so home and to bed. Blessed be God all things continue well with and for me. I pray God fit me for a change of my fortune.

I see a sea of hands,
a wine seller in the wine cellar,
a night made even with the sun.
What to do? I pray for
a change of tune.

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Dave Bonta (bio) crowd-sources his problems by following his gut, which he shares with 100 trillion of his closest microbial friends — a close-knit, symbiotic community comprising several thousand species of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa.

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About

Welcome to Via Negativa, a unique, co-authored experiment in daily poetic creation and collaboration from Dave Bonta, who founded the site in 2003, and Luisa A. Igloria, who joined in 2010, along with occasional other contributors. Dave writes daily erasure poems from the 17th-century diary entries of Samuel Pepys. Luisa has been writing and posting a poem a day since November 2010, often in response to Dave's posts at The Morning Porch. Her most recent book, Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser, includes many poems first published here. Read more...